Greetings from Los Angeles!
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Greetings from Los Angeles!
i found my way here through researching a build i'm currently working on. officially started thinking of myself as a cyclist two decades ago. and even though i reside in los angeles, i am a pnw'er at heart having grown up in seattle. over the years i've owned many many bikes, unofficially diagnosed with two very severe conditions of upgrade-itis and minimus closet spatius.
outside of cycling i enjoy photography and solo backpacking. in 2017 i backpacked through glacier national park to the canadian border, and in 2018 i completed a thru-hike of the john muir trail and winter hiked the escalante trail in the grand canyon.
this past january i beat cancer after spending all of 2019 battling the disease. since the turn of the new year, my immune system has been slowly recovering and in the meantime i've been dreaming of a world after covid19 when i feel safe getting back on the bike and riding out in public.
i used to be a lot more active of a member on mtbr back when i was mountain biking in the pnw, but very excited to be contributing to this forum!
bikes i remember owning:
1967 schwinn racer
1983 eddy merckx professional
1992 colnago master piu
1998 specialized rockhopper
2001 beone woodbumble
2002 lemond zurich
2003 iron horse hollowpoint mtx
2004 echo urban
2005 litespeed ultimate
2012 intense slopestyle 2
2014 knolly chilcotin
2016 knolly podium
2018 kona sutra ltd
outside of cycling i enjoy photography and solo backpacking. in 2017 i backpacked through glacier national park to the canadian border, and in 2018 i completed a thru-hike of the john muir trail and winter hiked the escalante trail in the grand canyon.
this past january i beat cancer after spending all of 2019 battling the disease. since the turn of the new year, my immune system has been slowly recovering and in the meantime i've been dreaming of a world after covid19 when i feel safe getting back on the bike and riding out in public.
i used to be a lot more active of a member on mtbr back when i was mountain biking in the pnw, but very excited to be contributing to this forum!
bikes i remember owning:
1967 schwinn racer
1983 eddy merckx professional
1992 colnago master piu
1998 specialized rockhopper
2001 beone woodbumble
2002 lemond zurich
2003 iron horse hollowpoint mtx
2004 echo urban
2005 litespeed ultimate
2012 intense slopestyle 2
2014 knolly chilcotin
2016 knolly podium
2018 kona sutra ltd
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#2
Forum Moderator
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Kalamazoo MI
Posts: 20,647
Bikes: Fuji SL2.1 Carbon Di2 Cannondale Synapse Alloy 4 Trek Checkpoint ALR-5 Viscount Aerospace Pro Colnago Classic Rabobank Schwinn Waterford PMount Raleigh C50 Cromoly Hybrid Legnano Tipo Roma Pista
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Welcome. Quite the bike list!
#5
Full Member
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Southern California
Posts: 492
Bikes: Historical: Schwinn Speedster; Schwinn Collegiate; 1981 Ross Gran Tour; 1981 Dawes Atlantis; 1991 Specialized Rockhopper. Current: 1987 Ritchey Ultra; 1987 Centurion Ironman Dave Scott Master; 1992 Specialized Stumpjumper FS
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Welcome to BF and Los Angeles cycling!
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#9
Not actually Tmonk
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: San Diego, CA
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Welcome to BF, happy to hear that you're finding some momentum with cycling again!!!
__________________
"Your beauty is an aeroplane;
so high, my heart cannot bear the strain." -A.C. Jobim, Triste
"Your beauty is an aeroplane;
so high, my heart cannot bear the strain." -A.C. Jobim, Triste
#10
Junior Member
Thread Starter
wow. funny enough, the rockhopper i had i also found on the side of the road. it was just the frame and really beat up. it ended up being my very first mountain bike.
#11
Junior Member
Thread Starter
thanks. it definitely was the worst, but glad to have it behind me
#13
Old dogs love new tricks
That's a decent list of bikes mate! That's awesome! Look forward to future updates and pictures! Welcome to the forum mate
#15
Junior Member
Introductions
Welcome! another new member here. Drag about the cancer, great that you beat it, drag about recovery and having to hide from the virus keeping you from riding. Good luck with everything. MSD
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#16
Junior Member
Happy to hear that 2019 is behind you and you beat cancer.
Hope that you will be able to ride in the wind once more very soon.
Hope that you will be able to ride in the wind once more very soon.
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#18
velo-dilettante
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: insane diego, california
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hopefully you've already gotten out and about a grip in la. depending on where exactly you lie, much of angeles national forest is nearby or the santa monica mountains
or palos verdes peninsula or la habra hills. ya got the north/south bike paths of marvin braude (along the beach), la river trail, sgrt and sart for concreted bike paths.
there are times when i would blow all that off for a sweet 45 mile ride incorporating dtown la, arts district, little tokyo, chinatown, boyle heights, elysian park, echo park, silver lake,
atwater village, griffith park, toluca lake, laurel canyon, hollywood hills, fairfax district, hollywood, little armenia, los feliz and filipinotown. come aware and come hungry cause the sights
and smells are overwhelming.
or palos verdes peninsula or la habra hills. ya got the north/south bike paths of marvin braude (along the beach), la river trail, sgrt and sart for concreted bike paths.
there are times when i would blow all that off for a sweet 45 mile ride incorporating dtown la, arts district, little tokyo, chinatown, boyle heights, elysian park, echo park, silver lake,
atwater village, griffith park, toluca lake, laurel canyon, hollywood hills, fairfax district, hollywood, little armenia, los feliz and filipinotown. come aware and come hungry cause the sights
and smells are overwhelming.
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#19
Junior Member
Thread Starter
honestly, the roads are not as bike friendly as back up in seattle. that being said, there's the la river bike path. if you stay actively aware of your surroundings doing rides from east hollywood to the beach can be fun. there's also some great riding around ventura. i've done a little bit of the pch, which is hell riding north but a blast riding south. i've always wanted to do mulholland, but that'd be a deathwish with how people 2fast2furious up and down the canyon roads. i see riders up into the angels national forest, but you have to really love climbing.
i'm really hoping lockdown gets more drivers used to being around cyclists. since moving here i've been hit twice. both times were sideswipes while i was on a bike path. both drivers were not checking their mirrors nor signaling turns. i was lucky to not be injured in either situation.
i'm really hoping lockdown gets more drivers used to being around cyclists. since moving here i've been hit twice. both times were sideswipes while i was on a bike path. both drivers were not checking their mirrors nor signaling turns. i was lucky to not be injured in either situation.
#20
Junior Member
Wanting to avoid traffic and bike paths/lanes led me to riding around and making circuits in some of the hilly residential neighborhoods. Near the Rose Bowl between Pasadena and Glendale, Montrose, around Eagle Rock and southern South Pasadena among others. Not nearly as much traffic and generally slower cars. More shade, too.
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#21
Old and rusty
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: In the swamps of South Florida
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Bikes: 1983 Lotus, 1989 Haro Escape, Quax muni, KHS?, Nishiki Olympic 12
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Welcome
Welcome aboard from another survivor.
glad ya made it.
take your time and stay as active as possible and you will get your mojo back.
it took me at least a year after all treatments and surgery were over to start feeling good again.
glad ya made it.
take your time and stay as active as possible and you will get your mojo back.
it took me at least a year after all treatments and surgery were over to start feeling good again.
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#22
Junior Member
Thread Starter
thanks, and good to see another survivor. this is actually one of the biggest challenges i am surprised with--both physically and mentally. after my last cat scan, i was thinking "oh, it's all over. now i can get back to life," and that was so wrong--even after a few months. it's honestly and actually helpful to hear from someone else who's gone through the same thing say that it's going to take time.
#23
Old and rusty
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: In the swamps of South Florida
Posts: 226
Bikes: 1983 Lotus, 1989 Haro Escape, Quax muni, KHS?, Nishiki Olympic 12
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thanks, and good to see another survivor. this is actually one of the biggest challenges i am surprised with--both physically and mentally. after my last cat scan, i was thinking "oh, it's all over. now i can get back to life," and that was so wrong--even after a few months. it's honestly and actually helpful to hear from someone else who's gone through the same thing say that it's going to take time.
the nurses and doctors were all “. We beat it! Awesome! You’re alive....”
meanwhile I’m feeling like **** and just getting of bed in the morning to make my coffee took all my willpower. At work I felt slow, and stupid, unable to function at my earlier levels. At times I wondered if this was as good as I was going to get was it worth winning? I Didn’t want to live like that. But slowly energy and motivation have come back. Nobody ever told me how long it would take to just feel decent again.
Also, if any was in your neck make sure your primary care tests your thyroid levels at your next bloodwork. The radiation and chemo killed my thyroid, so now I take synthetic thyroid hormones to replace them. That helped a bit too.
take it easy, eat well, and stay as active as possible without pushing it.
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